The Lesson of SI's Epic Brand Failure
Once one of the most popular magazines in the country, the title's most recent troubles point to the perils of not investing in the future because the past was so great.
EXPERT OPINION BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS@HOWARDTULLMAN1
While there's some
modest prospect that Sports Illustrated will once again be
resurrected from the shadows of its most recent fiasco -- most of its
journalists were laid off -- it
seems much more likely that we've seen the last vestiges of a brand-based
venture that lost its heart and raison d'etre long ago. The title was
essentially rented out by its owner, Authentic Brands Group, to be published by
a company called Arena Group, which got caught grasping desperately at such
solutions as AI-faked articles by invented authors. SI reached
its peak circulation about 30 years ago and things have been headed downhill
ever since. From weekly to monthly to nowhere.
Plenty of print
periodicals have passed away and many others are circling the drain for obvious
reasons, but the SI saga offers some specific lessons for new
business builders that are especially instructive when you consider the power
and presence of sports in our lives today. The primary lesson: regardless of
how big the wave you're trying to ride, if you don't stay well ahead of the
currents and rough waters, it's likely to roll right over you. And no amount of
semi-naked, swim-suited models is gonna keep you or your business afloat.
If the cover of Rolling
Stone was the golden ring for artists and bands in the rock business,
then Sports Illustrated was the biblical equivalent for jocks
in every sport. And, truthfully, SI's powerful brand, slick
photography, great writing, and its broad demographic reach was even more
substantial than Jann Wenner's rag. And far more valued by mainstream
advertisers. But time has a nasty way of turning your attributes into
ashes if you don't keep moving forward. There were
plenty of signals over the years, but they were largely ignored by SI's
founding owner -- Time Inc. and later Time-Warner -- because, when you're
successful in the moment and resting on your laurels, you forget quickly, and
learn only slowly and painfully. 01:23
Here were the three
major things that SI's owners and managers forgot.
(1) Your
Brand is Shorthand for a Promise.
That promise is to
consistently deliver to your clients, customers, and the public a defined and
readily understood level of performance, products, and services. A brand can
mean new, fast, exclusive, or unique. But today, everything is everywhere, and
no one wants to wait for anything, so the competitive stakes are radically
different. The longer you've been around, the more concrete your brand promise,
your commitments, and the crowd's expectations become; but, when the
alternatives are just a click away, your fans' loyalty is fluid and flighty. If
you drop the ball, the crowd is quick to move on. Try to do things on the cheap
or in a half-assed manner, or the same old way, and they're gone. It's
become a "what have you done for me lately" world. Sports
Illustrated used to be special, now it's "so what," too
little, too late, and nobody cares.
(2) Value is
in the Eyes of the Beholder.
Most honest marketers
will tell you that it's the crowd, and not you or your cronies, that keeps
score these days and decides what's worthwhile and worth wanting. In an
environment of rapid and rabid social media - where everyone's a broadcaster -
the crowd controls your brand and your reputation. If you're lucky, you're
still hanging on for dear life and trying to outlast the bumpy ride. Brands
like SI, which were still stuck in the dark, pre-digital ages,
thought that their historical brand equity was enough to allow them to command
a premium price for their traditional, sleepy, and largely unchanged offerings.
But the real world thinks otherwise. No one wants
to pay up for old news. And honestly, no one wants to "Be Like Mike"
anymore either. If you don't grow, they take the ball away and you have to go.
(3) Nostalgia
can be a Narcotic and Put You to Sleep.
It's easy and often a
lot less painful to look backwards and focus on the glories of the past, but
that's dangerous in times of rapid change. Celebrating "the way we never
were" or constantly rehashing the old days allows us to embrace and be seduced
by the illusion of permanence. Saturday Night Live is a great
example of the risks associated with trying to rebottle the old brews. Justin
Timberlake's recent embarrassing appearance was a sad commentary on another
show that's lost its relevance, and most of its audience, along with a guy trying to get back in the
game whose talents are toast.
Over time, even the best
brands and businesses can become static and inflexible as well as very
difficult to extend to seize new opportunities. Tradition and "tried and
true" rationales are too often convenient excuses for businesses that
aren't interested in change or making critical and costly investments to upgrade, expand and improve their products.
Sports Illustrated may only be the
latest casualty in a long list of brands and businesses overtaken by change and
new technologies, which includes Kodak, Blackberry, AAA, and the entire Swiss
watch industry. But it won't be the last. Time is ruthless. The message is
clear: if you're not actively moving your business forward, you're losing
ground and slipping backwards - whether you know it or not. As long as you act
as if you're coming from behind, you have a shot at staying ahead.